Fashion
is a relative newcomer to the reputable Metropolitan, but now the Upper
East Side institution is stepping into the fracas of the fashion
blogosphere. The museum is displaying 40 new acquisitions from its
Costume Institute in blog.mode: addressing fashion, and — hold onto your chapeau — inviting the public to comment on the pieces through a blog on its website. While the armchair fug-sters
do battle for most catty remark, the Met's sincere curators intersperse
relevant art-historical commentary about such highlights as a 1983
black Comme des Garçons jersey dress and a 1947 Adrian piece featuring
a Salvador Dalí design. While the high-class items are undoubtedly
worthy of the Met's collection, it's the public dialogue that merits
close scrutiny.

– H.G. Masters

via Artnet news, 12/19/07:

MET GETS INTO BLOG MODE
While the average citizen "might shy away from commenting on the merits of a Juan Gris or a Henry Moore," notes Metropolitan Museum Fashion Institute curator Harold Koda, they have no such compunction when it comes to fashion. Thus, the Met’s first blog -- located at http://blog.metmuseum.org/blogmode/ --
invites the public to comment on the new exhibition in the Costume
Institute galleries, a presentation of 65 recent acquisitions dubbed
"blog.mode: addressing fashion," Dec. 18, 2007-Apr. 13, 2008. Comments
can be registered at the Met's website, or on what is called a
"blogbar" of eight computer terminals in the museum galleries. So far,
remarks seem to be confined to "fabulous" and the like, though one
contributor notes that 99 percent of the costumes in the show are for
women, "reinforcing the idea that women are the peacocks and men should
be looking on or not seen at all."

One of the many interesting items in the exhibition is the "Remote Control" Dress (2000) by Hussein Chalayan (b. 1970), a cast-plastic form with side and rear flaps that open to reveal pink tulle. According to Met curator Andrew Bolton,
who co-organized the show, Chalayan is one of several contemporary
designers who is beginning to issue his designs in limited editions in
order to encourage collectors.

November 21, 2007

I V Y paris
started life as 5 artists getting together to hold an exhibiton in late
2004 (a painter, sculptor, jewelry designer, photographer and Founder
of I V Y paris, Susie Hollands,
conceptual artist). Within 2 weeks of deciding we were holding a show
we'd found a gallery space, rented it, painted and scrubbed it and sent
out a quick email blast to those we'd hoped would come to the vernissage.
We split the costs 5 ways to make things affordable. A few finishing
touches to the work to be exposed and we were ready. Everyone did
something; donated a sound system, brought the wine in a friend's car,
painted, mopped, spoke the necessary French........et voila! It was
great success. The space was packed on the opening night and first
night sales covered over and above the cost of hiring the space.
This proves that if you are motivated it's possible to hold an
exhibition, even in Central Paris. It doesn't have to be a traditional
white-cube type thing either – it can be in someone's home, under one
of the bridges of the Seine, in a Park, or parking lot if you like.

I V Y parisserves
as a comprehensive hub for visual arts information and resources in
Paris, nurturing our creative community through a series of art
exhibitions and events. For those artists or
art-curious already living in Paris, just passing through the “moveable
feast,” as so many have done before them or dreaming about doing so one
day, we hope I V Y paris will be an invaluable point of reference for
you.

Painters, photographers, sculptors, conceptual artists, writers,
musicians, performers, dancers, video artists, fashion designers - this group is open to everyone who wants to express themselves in some kind of creative fashion in Paris.
It does not matter what discipline you are working in, what level you
are at, if you have even started creating the work you wish to show -
all you have to do is want to do it.

I V Y Paris is empowering emerging artists
by providing information and events and helping them support and
inspire each other. Meet other artists and designers, find out how to
negotiate the Paris arts scene and source under-the-radar events.

A global network for a global city; you can continue to participate if you live abroad or only have limited time in Paris.

In November, DiggingPitt(Pittsburgh PA) will begin a joint effort
with Agni Gallery (New York, NY) and Panza Gallery (Millvale, PA) to
present The Blogger Show. The exhibits showcase the work of over thirty
artists whose common interest is in clarifying artistic discourse
through their blogs. All of the exhibits will take place between
November 3, 2007 and January 12, 2008. Preview the exhibits online
at Fiji Island Mermaid Press, courtesy of Marc Snyder. Announcements
about receptions and other special events are forthcoming, so watch
your e-box. Stay current with The Blogger Show artists on the blog or join us at
MySpace.

Tim O’Reilly defines…Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform. Chief among those rules is this: Build applications that harness network effects to get better the more people use them. (This is what I've elsewhere called "harnessing collective intelligence.")

Excerpt from Bill Gusky's article (Artblog Comments) Read moreA number of artists have entered the
blog arena, writing about art and the art world as they participate in it through their visual work. There have always been artists
who write about art, and at times their writing has been highly influential; Donald Judd is one name that leaps to mind. As
a new art narrative emerges, writers of all stripes – critics,
historians, curators and even art bloggers -- will play a large
part in shaping, interpreting and defining it.

This exhibition focuses
on the work of artists who are active art blog writers. The
work you see here emerged in the studio in near-simultaneity with the artist’s written expressions. These twin efforts – art making and blog writing -- sometimes appear to flow together and intertwine beautifully, and at other times almost seem to
be in diametric opposition.

The relationship between
written word and the created artwork suggests the erratic flow
of a culture in which propaganda freely mingles with news journalism
and science is polluted with articles of faith. It seems at times that the only appropriate response to the apparent untrustworthiness
of all our societal and cultural expressions is a schizophrenic call-and-response [...]

For more about the current state of the art blogger phenomenon, see Peter Plagens' article and round table in the November 07 issue of Art in America, with bloggers Regina Hackett (Art To Go), Tyler Green (Moder Art Notes), Jeff Jahn (PORT), Roberta Fallon & Libby Rosof (artblog), and Edward Winkleman(edward_winkleman): "Report From the Blogoshere" The New Grass Roots." Ironically, the article is not available online, since the AiA website does not offer access to any of its content. However, there is a discussion on Kriston Capps' Grammar.police.

In this month's Art in America, Peter Plagens poses numerous questions to a round table of art bloggers hailing from different cities, in "Report from the Blogosphere: The New Grass Roots"; with comments from Regina Hackett (Art To Go), Tyler Green (Modern Art Notes), Jeff Jahn (PORT), Roberta Fallon & Libby Rosof (artblog), and Edward Winkleman(edward_winkleman). NEWSgrist gets some nice mentions up front and center:

PLAGENS: Tyler has cited Joy Garnett's NewsGrist blog as doing a great job of "placing art within a sociocultural and political context." What I see on NewsGrist is a magazinelike interspersing of short profiles, exhibition reviews, op-ed pieces on how other people are covering things, and Village Voice–like political takes. But what does Tyler's comment mean to you, and why are blogs in general better positioned than print to do what he describes? [...]PLAGENS: Why can't blogs go further, to the point where there's hardly any discernible difference between artist and critic/commentator, blog and work of art?

Winkleman: That's exactly what Joy Garnett is doing, in my opinion. She's collaging texts in a way that obscures the difference between artist and comentator, blog and work of art.